Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Picture a lovely afternoon after the elementary school bus dropped the children off. Parents and children headed home for snack and then met outside shortly after for a game of tag, scooter rides 'round the block, and a game of catch. After my middle son returned with his walk with the dog, I set up camp on the door step with a small stack of papers to grade. Our obedient girl lay down by my feet, and my pen stood poised to mark up the essays. Then there came a tremendous "Smash!" and we all stopped in our tracks.

Our neighbor across the speech has a rocket arm, and her pitch sent her baseball right through the rear window of my car. Ouch. We all stood frozen for a moment as the shock of the moment sank in. I placed my papers down. I passed the leash to my son. Neighbor and I met in the middle to say, "Oh no." and ask, "What now?"

The glass was shattered and most of the window was scattered along the sidewalk and street below it. There was a gaping hole where black shards pointed dangerously along the perimeter. While one party called the body shop to make a morning appointment, the other took out the shop vac to suck up all the treacherous matter. Plus, so many apologies. 

"Don't worry, how will we learn if we don't make mistakes?" I asked the seventh grade softball pitcher. 

And more apologies.

"It's really okay," my husband assured her parents. "In fact, take this bottle of wine. You'll want to unwind after this."

Then a discovery.

"Leah, why do you have all 100 Airhead candy bars in the secret compartment of your trunk?"

The best neighbors are the ones with whom we can be ourselves. It was a lovely afternoon in the neighborhood.